Vietnam jails 14 Montagnards for helping others flee to Cambodia
Fourteen members of a mostly Christian ethnic group in Vietnam were sentenced to up to five years in prison Friday for helping fellow hilltribe members to flee to neighboring Cambodia, a court official said.
A Aoh, 43, of the Jarai ethnic minority group, was sentenced to five years and 13 others to prison terms of between two and four years at the end of the two-day trial in Kon Tum province in Vietnam's Central Highlands, the official said on condition of anonymity.
The sentences coincided with the release of a Human Rights Watch report accusing Vietnam of religious freedom violations, including forcing Central Highlands ethnic minorities, collectively called Montagnards, to renounce their Christian faith and persecuting others who returned to Vietnam after fleeing to Cambodia.
The New York-based group alleges Vietnam is not abiding by an agreement it recently reached with the United States to improve religious freedoms.
"Vietnam should stop denying that these abuses are happening and start showing the political will to end them," said Brad Adams, the organization's Asia director, in a statement.
The report says Dega Christians _ an evangelical religion followed by some Montagnards _ are not allowed to worship because the government views the church as a separatist group. Some Dega Christians have been forced to sit through daylong talks on why they should abandon their faith or sign cards pledging to do so, the group said.
The court heard that border guards arrested the defendants in late December, the court official said.
The convicted have 15 days to appeal their sentences.
In April 2004, tens of thousands of Montagnards mounted mass demonstrations the capitals of Gia Lai and Daklak provinces, pressing for land rights and religious freedoms.
International human rights groups claim 10 protesters were killed in ensuing clashes with police, but Hanoi maintains that only two died.
Dozens of ethnic minority members have been given hefty prison terms in connection to the protests or organizing an exodus of refugees to Cambodia.
Last year, the U.S. State Department named Vietnam among the world's worst countries for religious repression. In response, the communist country promised to stop coercing citizens to renounce their religion and release prisoners detained for their religious beliefs.
Vietnam allows only a handful of state-sponsored religions to operate and maintains that no one is jailed for their religious beliefs.
The Associated Press - May 13, 2005.
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